Redhawk Caldera lover of the russian queen

get up.

she was breathing, alive. but her mother's eyes belonged to something dead and the familiar dark coat was painted over with blood. there's a flicker of motion, and the girl glances up, feeling cold fear for the first time in her life. sithis. it must be him, the wolf that stands there. he appears to be a part of the wood all around, though it's his eyes her gaze latches onto. eyes. she swallows, and his mouth moves. 

run.

it's raining again, and she's on the side of a rocky incline when the ground starts to tremble. the pebbles that start to fall are largely ignored, until one the size of her head narrowly misses her. she whips her head around to where it came from, and sees something that looks like the waterfall in the glen, but made of earth and rock and profoundly wrong. she pivots, launching herself down the rockface, making a desperate bid for solid ground.

He hadn't meant to be gone for so long, he had only meant to head back out and learn more about the earth's shaking. He had just found his way around the mountains when they began to tremble and he had witnessed boulders falling. He began to run keeping an eye above and coming to a ledge himself where he spotted a girl trying to make her way down safely while rocks fell above her. "Get down this way! Hurry! Jump, I promise I'll get you!" he shrieked and his voice was desperate to help her, his eyes determined. He didn't know what came over him or what Vengeance would think of it but he couldn't watch her potentially die. If she jumped he would break his own neck to help her safety, such was his braveness in the face of others in danger.

the boy's voice is a distraction; instinctively, she falters and glances towards the foreign voice. in that brief moment the rockslide catches up to her. she stumbled sideways are a boulder slams into her side, and despite all the parts of her that scream to ignore the boy, she managed a stumbling leap in his direction. 

she hits stone a beat later, forelimbs giving way as she rolls to land on her shoulder, which takes the brunt of the impact. she's dangerously close to the ledge's edge, though attempts to scramble towards the boy and thus, to relative safety.

"No!" he screamed as his heart lurched and he felt sick watching a boulder slam into her, choking back a cry expecting to watch her fall. In a miraculous feat of sheer instinct she leaped for the ledge and hit the edge, stunning him as he watched her scrabble for hold. He growled and lunged, going for her scruff and yanking her back toward him and away from the ledge as hard as he could probably sending them both tumbling since he wasn't the most balanced due to his growing legs.

fangs in her scruff, pulling her back from the edge with far more success than her scrambling. she lurched upward only to fall into him, scrambling to find her footing for a long moment before managing to gain her paws. she remains upright only a moment before collapsing into a seating position, tongue flicking out to pass over her upper lip. 

she looks to the boy, the first person she's met who's not of the woods. despite it, she doesn't feel the need to mistrust him. her gaze flickers to his, her version on a thanks, breath shaky and off-beat. "what was that?" she manages to push out, feeling very much like her entire world is collapsing in on itself.

Sure enough they flopped and he floundered beneath her before squirming out and sitting up, silver eyes immediately scanning the mountain above them as the rumbling faded and eventually stopped. He panted softly and grimaced, feeling he should warn Vengeance about this immediately. Her question brought his gaze to her and immediately she was his focus, it wasn't safe here if another quake happened. "That's what I've been out trying to find out. Come with me, I can bring you somewhere safe if you want to follow. Either way I have to go warn my mentor" he offered her safety and stood up, fur still bristling as he was clearly serious about leaving her if she didn't want to follow. He had saved her life, he didn't really have to guide her away from here. For a moment he wondered if Vengeance would want another pup and gave a small wag of his tail "I'm Valour...My mentor is our leader, I can bring you to my home. We're not the sweetest bunch but...but we aren't monsters" he tried to convince her a little, for at least she wouldn't be on his conscience if something went wrong in a safer place.

she wonders if the rocks could have crushed her like that tree had. her stomach recoils at the thought, and she sees clearly her mother trapped beneath that trunk, dead and yet still alive. it threatens to overcome her in that moment, and so with all her might does the yearling shove the thought down and away, swearing never to think of it again. her mother is gone.

"Hela." is all she offers him, and to his offer of safety, "ok." she doesn't believe it, not really—she'd thought blackfeather safe, had she not? but unmoored, with nothing but a wide world she has no interest in exploring and a home she can't go back to, it seems the best option. she stood, the pain still dulled. and in comparison to what she'd seen earlier that day, she knew her hurt didn't matter.

She seemed to be a bit dazed or something and Valour softened feeling bad for being so callous. He nodded slowly and motioned for her to follow him, leading her back down the ridge and toward the trees. "Hey, are you okay? Did you hit your head or something?" he asked concerned though he kept walking, glancing over his shoulder occasionally.  He sniffed at her scent but only caught the smell of earth and what he thought was blood. He paused and turned around clearly scanning her for wounds "I dont know how to heal but we have a healer" he informed her.

she blinks as he calls a question back at her, answering back with a "fine." there's a slight limp in her step, and the boulder's impact site is oozing blood, but otherwise, she's unhurt. she doesn't offer any response to his second question, and asks only a wary, "how far?" she doesn't want to appear weak, if that isn't obvious already, but the simple words, no matter how much she'd rather be silent, give her something to focus on.

With another sniff he could tell she was wounded but he didn't push it, instead nodding and leading her toward home. He could smell familiar scents already and found it comforted him, his tail beginning to stir behind his legs. "Not far its just ahead" he said and gave her a reassuring smile.

with his answer she fell silent, following the stranger - Valour. to follow another her age feels odd, but this day has already been painted so liberally with horror and emotion that it's something she takes in stride, or at least, ignores for now. there seems to be nothing else to do save to walk on, and if she can't exactly trust all the boy says, she can be prepared for whatever awaits them.